NY Giants Drop Closer to the Basement in MMQB's Latest Power Rankings Poll

"Here’s what Brian Daboll can’t say at these testy press conferences: it would be almost illegal to throw Jaxson Dart behind this offensive line," Orr said.

"Russell Wilson has trouble seeing the field, but his pedestrian statistical performance on Sunday had a lot more to do with the fact that his protection was arguably the worst in the NFL."

The main causes of the Giants' discouraging performance against Washington went far beyond just the porousness of their offensive front. Still, Orr is more than justified to point out his lingering concerns about the protection the group can give to Wilson or whoever is under center.

The unit was responsible for 26 total pressures allowed, including two sacks and 13 hurries that took Wilson off of his reads early and forced him to have to adjust on the fly to avoid running into a wall of defenders. 

Per Pro Football Focus, Wilson was pressured on 19 of his 45 dropbacks, with four pressures unblocked, which led to him completing just 46% of his pass attempts.

Of course, the Giants were missing their stalwart left tackle, Andrew Thomas, from the equation due to his slow ramping up from his Lisfranc injury suffered last season. 

Still, it's hard to picture the results being that much cleaner with Thomas present as the Giants struggled to withstand head-on rushes through the middle gaps from the Commanders' defensive tackles.

While some think that the answer lies in Daboll switching out the ageing Wilson for a younger and more athletic Jaxson Dart, who showed he can extend plays with his feet and be a more capable dual-threat quarterback in the preseason, the last thing the Giants want to do is rush the rookie into action against elite defensive fronts that will punish him nonstop when the pass protection does not hold up consistently.

If the poor protection doesn't improve in Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys and beyond this season, and there is little evidence to support that it will right now, then what has been arguably the longest roster retooling experiment for the organization will live on and become one of the major focuses of the offseason for whoever is leading the Giants organization in 2026.

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